Sterbik and Omeyer fight for fifth trophies

Can Vardar defend the title and stop the French armada at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2018? This is the major question prior to the VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18’s pinnacle event, where Vardar will face Montpellier in the semi-final, and Paris Saint-Germain and HBC Nantes will duel for the second spot in the final.

In terms of previous success, two goalkeepers are in focus: Arpad Sterbik (Vardar) and Thierry Omeyer (PSG) each have the chance to win their fifth individual EHF Champions League trophy. Both have made it to the winners’ podium four times with two clubs – Sterbik with Ciudad Real (2006, 2008, 2009) and Vardar (2017), Omeyer with Montpellier (2003) and Kiel (2007, 2010, 2012).

Four times, they have faced each other in the Champions League finals. Sterbik was victorious in 2008, 2009 and 2017, while Omeyer’s only win against a team featuring Sterbik was in 2012.

11 players in history have won the trophy five or more times – a list still topped by Andrei Xepkin, who was part of all six Barcelona squads that took the trophy between 1996 and 2005, and claimed his seventh trophy with Kiel in 2007.

While Vardar are out to become the first team to defend the title since the implementation of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 2010, one player could enjoy an individual historic moment: Ivan Cupic. Vardar’s Croatian wing became the first player to defend the title in Cologne last year after raising the trophy with Kielce in 2016. Now, Cupic can become the first to win the trophy for three consecutive years since the golden FC Barcelona generation in the 1990s.

Nikola Karabatic could also break a record. The three-time IHF World Player of the Year could be the first player to win the trophy with four different clubs, after his successes with Montpellier (2003), Kiel (2007) and Barcelona (2015).

Even the VELUX EHF FINAL4 debutants Nantes and Montpellier count on previous EHF Champions League winners: Nantes’ German left wing Dominik Klein, who will finish his career after this season, won the trophy three times with Kiel – and will now face his former teammates Omeyer, Karabatic and Daniel Narcisse in what is his seventh appearance in Cologne.

Alongside Vardar’s 2017 champions, the second semi-final features two previous Champions League winners: Montpellier’s Vid Kavticnik (2007 with Kiel) and Michael Guigou, who took the trophy in 2003 with the only club he has ever played for, together with Karabatic and Omeyer.

Looking at coaches, three of the four are former or current EHF Champions league winners: Patrice Canayer steered Montpellier to the 2003 title, Noka Serdarusic (PSG) was Kiel’s coach in 2007 and Raul Gonzalez was the mastermind behind Vardar’s 2017 triumph.

In total, 23 former Champions League winners made it to Cologne – and six of them count more than one trophy on their tally.